Former Rikers Correctional Officer Un-Retiring for Arm Wrestling Competition
Former arm wrestling champion back competing today.
April 27, 2014— -- Vinny Vetere isn't your ordinary Sunday school teacher.
The 46-year-old husband and father is also a magician, a former correctional officer at New York's famous Rikers Island Jail and an arm wrestling champion.
Although he retired from competition 13 years ago, Vetere's a legend on the arm wrestling circuit. His forearms measure 16 inches.
"I've done a little over a hundred competitions in arm wrestling and I won probably about 98 percent," he said.
Vetere is coming out of retirement today to compete in the Big Apple Grappling Challenge in Yonkers, N.Y.
Vetere said his competitors are always amazed by his smallish stature.
"When somebody actually saw me, they saw I wasn't 6 foot 4, they saw that I was only like 5 [feet] 8 [inches], 175 pounds," he said. "It was like, 'No way this is the guy that's beating all these people."
Vetere showed off his home arm wrestling gym where he's been training.
"[You] never want to get into a bad position -- you could hurt your shoulder, you could hurt your arm or break arm position," he said. "You stay nice and tight, you lock it up."
Vetere said his friends and family even got in on the arm wrestling action, but they didn't make for great opponents. He added that he prays before each match.